Reports and publications

We regularly publish new and exciting research on grandparents and kinship carers. Explore our reports below, or find out about our current research projects. We support a passionate group of PhD students, if you would like to discuss your work with us please contact us at [email protected].

Our 2018 survey had over 1,000 respondents, and gives an essential insight into the lives of kinship carers. This year we're exploring the impact of becoming a kinship carer on people's health and wellbeing, and highlighting the need for more support across the board for kinship families.Read more

Our State of the Nation 2017 survey shines a spotlight on the challenges faced by kinship carers – grandparents and other family members who’ve taken on the care of children who aren’t able to live with their parents.Read more

The report is based on the largest ever national survey of kinship carers. It explores the experiences of kinship families and draws comparison with findings from our 2010 survey What if we said no?Read more

Bringing up a kinship child has many challenges and our research reveals 90% of kinship carers find raising kinship children more challenging than raising their own children, often because of the children’s emotional and behavioural difficulties or other special needs, but also because of difficulties with the children’s parents or simply because they are older and have less energy. Our survey reveals for the first time the extent of the discrimination and stigma that kinship carers experience.Read more

Promoting the health and wellbeing of older people is a critical policy imperative as the population ages, while social, economic and demographic changes across Europe and the U.S. point to an increasing role for grandparents in providing childcare support to families. This study explores the relationship between grandparents role in providing childcare and health and wellbeing over time using pan European longitudinal data.Read more

Forgotten Children provides new evidence of the high numbers of children in kinship carer not getting the support they need from children’s services. The report is based on a survey of 310 grandparents and other kinship carers who are members of Grandparents Plus Grandparents Plus Support Network and includes 420 children.Read more

Grandparenting in Europe, produced for Grandparents Plus by the Institute for Gerontology at King’s College London, shows that over 40% of grandparents in 12 European countries studied provide grandchild care without the parents present.Read more

Giving Up the Day Job?, provides new evidence of high numbers of kinship carers falling out of the labour market when they take on the care of children. The report is based on a survey of 263 grandparents and other kinship carers who are members of Grandparents Plus Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Network.Read more

Doing it all? Grandparents, childcare and Employment: Analysis of British Social Attitudes Survey Data from 1998 and 2009. The report presents new data from the BSA 1998 and 2009, to look at the role grandparents play in providing childcare, and how grandparenting has changed over the past decade.Read more

This report focuses on the experiences of older grandparents (those aged over 65) who are raising their grandchildren. It finds that many older carers experience isolation, discrimination and a lack of support, and often have health difficulties of their own. They are often reluctant to approach children’s services for help because they do not want interference or fear children may be taken away because of the attitude that people over 65 are ‘too old to care’.Read more

There are estimated to be around 200,000 family and friends carers in the UK looking after around 300,000 children because parents are no longer able to fulfill that role. This survey aims to provide a clearer picture of the demographic, personal, economic and financial circumstances of family and friends carers, the children they are looking after and the reasons for children coming into their care.Read more

Despite the growing importance of grandparenting, we know relatively little about its demography, or about how policies in different European countries support different types of grandparental roles. This leads to two key questions: how does the role of grandparents within family life vary across Europe, and how do different family policy frameworks across Europe help shape the role that grandparents play?Read more

The Equality and Human Rights Commission and Grandparents Plus worked in partnership to examine the relationship between older and younger people’s poverty through the grandparent-grandchild relationship. The report focuses on families who are particularly at risk of poverty; single parent families, families with disabled children and/or disabled parents, black and minority ethnic families, and those where grandparents are raising their grandchildren.Read more

The findings from this report shine some light on an under-recognised group who are struggling financially and emotionally, with a majority living at or below the poverty line. Between July and September 2009, Grandparents Plus conducted a survey of 100 family and friends carers who are members of our Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Network to establish the challenges that these carers and the children they care for face.Read more

The involvement of grandparents in the lives of teenage grandchildren.
This unique research presents the views of a representative sample of over 1500 teenagers on their relationships with their grandparents. It reveals just how important grandparents are to them, the role they play and the difference they make in their lives.Read more

Grandparents Plus has been funded by the Equality and Human Rights Commission to explore where older people’s poverty and child poverty meet around grandparental care. The interim report of this project includes an analysis of British Social Attitudes Survey data from 1998–2007.Read more

Funded by the Basic Skills Agency, Grandparents Plus produced good practice cards aimed at grandparents to assist them to support their grandchildren with literacy and numeracy. There is also a leaflet for schools and a report of the project.Read more

Forgotten Families, a joint report by Grandparents Plus and Adfam is based on a literature review and consultation with grandparents raising grandchildren as a result of drug and alcohol abuse in the family. Often isolated and stigmatised many of these grandparents face stress and financial hardship. The report highlights the specific difficulties grandparents in this situation encounter particularly when trying to find appropriate help and support.Read more